Wichita State University has had a decades-long relationship with data-storage company NetApp Inc. and its predecessor, LSI Corp., which NetApp acquired in 2011.

But Tonya Witherspoon, who works with NetApp as the director of Wichita State University’s Media Resources Center, says the university and the business are strengthening their partnership, in part through an event held at the National Center for Aviation Training Monday night.

The event was the third in a colloquium series, where Wichita State faculty and staff could network with NetApp employees and learn about new technology — specifically, last night, techniques for automating technology testing.

Stan Skelton, senior director for advanced development and architecture at NetApp, says one goal of the event is to give students some insight, in a low-risk setting, into a company where they might want to pursue a technology career.

“The goal is to mix students and faculty and NetApp employees so they can get to know each other,” Witherspoon says.

NetApp (NASDAQ: NTAP) has long hired Wichita State University graduates and provided internship opportunities to current students. The company cited the pipeline of WSU engineering students as one reason it decided in 2012 to add jobs here.

NetApp said recently it will extend that partnership by establishing an on-campus lab.

The lab will eventually be integrated into WSU’s planned Innovation Campus, but Witherspoon says it will open at the end of the summer, before that space is ready.

Paid positions will be available to students who will do real-world testing projects on NetApp’s data-storage systems.

Witherspoon says having such opportunities on campus helps the university in recruiting students and ensuring that they have the skills employers need.

The arrangement benefits NetApp, too, Skelton says. He says that if new hires have worked with NetApp while they’re still in school, the company doesn’t have to spend much time training them.